Just Because
by makos-lightningrod
Summary: Prompt: Mako and Korra are at a fancy party.


"Korra, stop wiggling," Asami instructed as she grabbed Korra's chin firmly and tilted her head up, her eyes inspecting the blank canvas before her. Korra puffed out her cheeks, her eyes bugging a bit as she watched a thin pencil come closer and closer to her blue eyes.

"This is torture," Korra whined as her head naturally gravitated backwards as the deadly tool took up her sight. "Asami, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, it's not like they all haven't seen me already. They know what I look like, so it's not like I'm trying to impress them."

"You're going to a party to celebrate the completion of the new Probending Arena," Asami said as she pulled her back to her and easily pressed lines of kohl around Korra's eyes to make them pop. "That's something you dress up for, especially when you want to impress your boyfriend."

Korra almost started nodding in agreement before stopping mid-motion as the other girl's words sunk in. So, to impress Mako she had to wear gunk on her face and wear dresses? Her nails dug into her palms as she stopped herself from calling the whole thing off.

This wasn't about Mako. This was about Republic City slowly healing and coming to terms with the problems they had tried to ignore.

She avoided him for the first hour, her smile forced and cracking as she thanked and talked to a million different people that wanted to see the Avatar, to talk to the person that had built and rebuilt this city piece by piece.

She nodded and shook hands again and again until she could escape upstairs to the gym to not think about the way Mako had been speechless when she first arrived.

Everything was new here, and she breathed in deeply. Of course, the familiar scent of sweat and hard work didn't invade her senses, but she knew in less than a week of training that would change.

"Korra?" His voice was soft, but it still echoed in the empty room. She didn't turn around to acknowledge him, but then his fingers were touching her elbow. She let him twirl her around until she was staring up into his eyes. At the moment, those were the only part of him that looked like her Mako.

His hair was tamed into submission, and she longed to run her fingers through it until it was back to its messy disarray. "What do you want?" She growled out, her voice on edge, but her bottom lip jutted out to take away from the anger she tried to portray.

Her eyes slipped shut as she felt the rough pad of his thumb trace her cheekbone. "You're angry. What did I do?" Mako's voice was soft and she wanted to melt into it. If she could just forget that he liked pretty, put-together girls…

"Nothing."

"Is it because I didn't tell you you're beautiful? Because you are." He didn't think that was the reason. Korra didn't seem to ever care about her looks, even when he whispered over and over again how beautiful she was, how she took his breath away.

"That's the problem," Korra said. "I'm beautiful because Asami made me that way. Every other day I'm just Korra. But which Korra do you like better, Mako? Which Korra do you really want as your girlfriend? Fancy Korra, right?"

Mako's finger stopped moving and then he was pulling her chin up. "Korra, open your eyes and look at me. I love you. Do you understand that? I love you when you wake up in the morning and you can barely keep your eyes open because you don't want to be up so early training. I love you when you're angry at me, and I'm scared to death you might break my head open with a well-flung rock."

"My love isn't about how you look, even though you are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, and I'm sure will ever see." His hands were wrapping around hers, his fingers threading through until she had to follow him towards the water buckets around the room.

Her breath caught in her throat as he dipped a handkerchief into a basin of water, using the wet cloth to wipe away the blush and powder covering her features. "I love you." He whispered as his lips gently met hers.

She sucked in a deep breath before her hands were twining around his neck and pulling him down closer. "I love you, too."

Korra's lips met his, and she gasped before her hands rose to fist in his hair. "Let's not be fancy," she said as she pulled back. Her cheeks had high spots of color because she was about to do something brave and bold and maybe even a bit stupid.

Her hands fumbled at the zipper hiding in the side of her dress, her fingers shaking as she pulled it down. "I hate dresses, this dress…I feel totally useless when I wear it."

She kicked the blue fabric off her foot and it landed across the floor. She could feel his eyes roaming her body, and she gave a small shiver. "Ma-"

His name cut off as his mouth crashed down on hers, and she laughed happily as she returned his kiss with a fervor. "I guess I know how you feel about dresses, too," she mumbled as she felt her feet dangle above the ground.

His sudden movement towards a nearby table caught her off guard, and her thighs tightened, her leg moving to wrap around his waist as she clung to his neck. "Mako!"

Korra couldn't even keep the anger in his voice, and instead she squeaked at the end of her word. Her blood thrummed through her veins, and she was giddy with nervous excitement. "You're wearing too many clothes. It's a bit unfair."

Her bottom slid back across the wooden surface and she took advantage of that by pulling his black jacket open and rubbing her hands against his crisp white shirt.

"Korra, you really shouldn't do that."

But he knew she wasn't one to listen to someone telling her what to do, and her fingers were already struggling with the small row of buttons lining his chest. "Just help me, please because even if you didn't like me in the dress, I still saw you staring at my chest."

His flustered denial brought a wide grin to her face, and she guided his hands towards the end of her wrappings. They hadn't done this much- their first time awkward, the second and third quick and hurried because they were scared that someone might hear.

"Please, Mako….I miss this."

They were magic words, and his hands slid around her bare waist and her heart beat double time. Their mouths met again and again, teeth knocking together in their haste to taste each other fully. Korra knew this wasn't perfect, but she loved it for all the imperfections.

Once Mako had lost his shirt and his pants were falling down his legs, they had gotten more used to one another. Her fingers slid down the hard muscles of his stomach, and she knew where the sloping planes of his hips led now.

Her fingers were moving to close around the throbbing organ when a flash of blinding white covered her vision. Her mouth fell open with a moan as her hand wavered between twisting in his dark strands and holding the tongue close to her hard peaks that he was currently licking and continuing along her path.

"Mako…Mako…don't stop," Korra couldn't stop the breathless pants that fell from her tongue. She was coherent enough to reach down again, but her hand wasn't met with burning flesh. Her eyes popped open and was greeted with the sight of a dark head dipping down between her open thighs.

Her protests died in her throat as she felt his tongue lick up her folds. "Oh, spirits!" Her fingernails dug down into his shoulder. "Mako!" He took this as encouragement and then she was impaled by his long fingers, his tongue working around her clit while his fingers thrust deeper in her.

She could feel the tight coil of pleasure inside of her, and then she felt his chuckle, his soft puffs of air sending cool waves that made her break into a million pieces under his skillful tongue.

She laid there limply, her eyes fluttering open and closed while the roof seemed to spin above her. "Maybe I should dress fancy more often…." If it ended like this, she'd do it everyday.

Mako's arms slipped around her, and his mouth slowly pressed to hers. "This wasn't because you were fancy," he mumbled as he smoothed her messy hair back and rested their foreheads together.

"This was just because I missed you."


End file.
